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“The last to fall were the buildings, distant and solemn, the gravestones for an entire world.” 
― Dan Wells, The Partials

“Good morning citizens of the Cover. The Forerunner wishes you a wonderful day ahead and thanks you for your effort in making our home a beautiful place to live. Remember, the Cover will always be our sanctuary. Let us have a moment of silence for our soldiers who are on the Surface at this moment and wish them a safe return.”

The boy pressed a finger to the earpiece to hear the message clearer. He let out a groan of frustration when he realized it was not a reply from his comrades. He turned to the boy behind him who was struggling to get the dust out of his gun.

He put on his mask and asked, “Should we wait out the storm?”

The boy turned to him for a quick second before returning his gaze to his gun in front of him.

“What’s coming this time? We just survived a dust storm that split the team and we’re getting another one?” He scoffed, dumping out the empty shells. The other boy looked down at the device he had strapped onto his wrist and tapped his finger against the screen.

He scanned his eyes across the endless barren sand. “A rainstorm. We should get to higher ground to avoid the flooding. It may help us find the others too.”

“Alright, I'm done. Let's go,” said the boy. He slipped the gun into his back holster and stood up.

The two of them made their way across the destroyed highway and into the empty city towards the closest high-rise building in sight.  

Their eyes wandered over the empty vehicles abandoned by their owners on the sides. Dust and dirt covered the windows of the stores they walked by and many of the structures holding the buildings had collapsed on itself.

The sun was starting to set and if they were caught in the storm at night, chances of survival would grow even thinner.

As their distance between their destination diminished, the motion sensor on their tracking device lit up. They looked down only to see five pulsing red dots inside the building.

“They're moving which means those Erratics inside are still alive. Are we going to go engage?” asked the boy from behind.

The boy in front looked back and held out a hand to tell the other to wait.

“All these buildings should have a back stairwell. We don't have enough ammo to engage,” He said. He led the way towards the alley behind the building and true to his prediction, a door greeted them at the back.

“Turn on your headlight,” He instructed before placing a hand onto the bar and pushing it open. His eyes searched frantically around the bottom of the staircase for any signs of danger.

He let out a sigh of relief and turned behind him.  “Keep an eye out as we pass each door to a new level of the building. We don't know if there's more of them yet.”

The boy nodded and lifted his gun to his chin.

They quietly made their way up the dark staircase with their headlights illuminating the way. They made sure to make note of the floor numbers on the wall.

They had just passed by the door for the 17th floor when it flung open and before they had time to react, the boy at the back got dragged down the steps by his legs.

“Jimin!"

Jimin winced when his back collided against the steps. His light shone over the disfigured face of what used to be a human female. Her bloodshot eyes were sunken in and her skin was peeling off her face. She opened and let out a low snarl, dripping both blood and saliva onto the floor near his feet.

He kicked her back before she could do any real damage and the boy behind him shot a silenced bullet into her skull. She fell slack against the wall with her eyes wide open.

“Holy crap,” Jimin whispered. He picked up his gun that had fallen when he was pulled and walked backwards up the stairs with his eyes still on her body. He had not had the time to analyze her properly but now that she was still, he saw that her neck was bent at an awkward angle and her legs were abnormally swollen. Even after all these years of interacting with these creatures, it was still just as gut-wrenching to see one up close.

“Thankfully she wasn't a screamer or else she would've attracted all of them,” said the other boy. Jimin turned around to give him a clasp on the back and let out a small chuckle.

“Thanks for that, Yoongi.”

“Let's just hurry the out of here. Our motion sensors don't work in some of these buildings so we need to move fast.” Yoongi led the way up the stairs and this time, they were extra mindful of the doors that were even slightly ajar.

They finally reached the rooftop door after passing the 25th floor. Yoongi pushed against it and his eyes rounded when it wouldn't budge. Jimin, who was on watch looking down the stairs, turned around.

“Is it not opening?” He asked. Yoongi pushed against it a few more times and shook his head. Jimin nudged him out of the way and with one hand on the wall, he used it as support to kick the door open. It flung open and the two of them stepped onto the rooftop.

“This used to be an apartment building didn't it?” Jimin asked, looking around at the rooftop parking lot.

“Probably a wealthy one if they had parking on the roof,” Yoongi commented. He looked up at the darkened sky. “Let's hope they made it somewhere safe to wait out the storm.”

“I'll try contacting them again. At least one of them should still have a working earpiece right?” Jimin asked. He pressed his finger against the earpiece and spoke, “This is Jimin, do you guys read? I repeat, this is Jimin, do you read?”

He waited for a few seconds until he finally heard a crackle and he locked eyes with Yoongi who also had his finger on his earpiece.

“This is Jin. Yes, I can hear you. Are you with Yoongi?”

Jimin let out a cry of happiness when the response came through.

Yoongi grinned as he spoke into the microphone,“Yes, I am with Jimin. Are the five of you together? We are at the roof of the apartment building in the complex near the highway. Where is your position?”

“Yes, we are. We made our way to the old broadcasting tower. We can see you from here,” Jin replied. Jimin and Yoongi immediately looked around until they caught sight of the tall red tower to their east.

“We will rendezvous at the highway and make our way back to the Cover after the storm. Are any of you hurt?” Jin asked.  

“No, are any of you?” Jimin responded.

“We ran into one of the bigger ones who charged straight for Hoseok but there is no major injury.”

The two of them let out a sigh in relief.

“Then we will see you guys in a bit. Stay safe,” Yoongi said.
 

The storm lasted all night and the streets proved to be even more difficult to cross with the knee-level murky water. It made it impossible to know if there were cracks in in the cement.

Jimin and Yoongi managed to arrive at the rendezvous point before the others and set their weapons down to take a break. Luckily, they reached a higher altitude than the city streets and the water level only reached their ankles at this point.

“My leg is killing me.” Jimin leaned against one of the road signs to take the load off his legs. He looked down and his eyebrows knit together when he saw the red colour soaked onto his left leg. He ran his fingers over it and winced when the stinging pain finally settled in.

“Did you get cut?” Yoongi asked, noticing his expression. He bent down to look at it for him.

“These look like claw marks. That thing from earlier must've dug her nails through your suit when she pulled you down.” He clucked his tongue in thought. “We can't patch it up because Taehyung’s holding the medkit but we can wash it out first.”

After washing out the wound with the little water supply they had left, they both sat down on top of one of the old cars to wait for the others.

By the time the sun was at its highest point in the sky, they finally saw five familiar figures off in the distance.

Yoongi frowned and hopped off the car when the five of them got closer.

“I thought you said there was no major injury.” He pointed out, staring at Hoseok who was currently being carried by Jungkook and Namjoon. Taehyung looked towards the unconscious Hoseok and pursed his lips into a fine line before turning back to Yoongi.

“He has a concussion. At first we thought he was able to walk it off after the hit but then the symptoms became more prevalent and he didn't wake up for a few hours.”

“How bad is it?” Jimin asked, walking over to them. Jin shrugged. “We can't really tell at this point but he woke up earlier for a bit so we can rest assured he isn't in a coma.”

“Is your leg okay?” Jungkook asked. He noticed how Jimin set all the weight of his body onto the other leg while he walked over.

“It's just a little cut. I need the disinfectant and gauze,” Jimin said. He looked at Taehyung who took the bag off his back and rummaged through for the medkit before tossing it to him.

“Do you guys need to rest up or should we keep going?” Namjoon asked. Jimin ripped the gauze with his teeth and held a thumbs up.

“We’re good. We should keep going if we want to make it back before it gets dark.”

“Alright then, let's go.”

“Is that one alive?” Jungkook whispered, tilting his head at the figure sitting in the driver's seat of one of the vehicles on the highway. Taehyung, who happened to be at the closest distance to the vehicle, walked closer to investigate. His eyes rounded when he saw the child sitting in the passenger seat in the back.

“What are you doing?” Yoongi hissed, turning around to see what was going on. The others walking ahead stopped and turned around also.

Jungkook walked up behind him and seeing the dismangled child elicited the same mournful expression as Taehyung’s. He locked eyes with the older boy before tapping on the glass of the car window. The two of them watched in horror as the child snapped his eyes open and cracked his head in their direction.

“They did not even get out of the city,” Jungkook whispered, watching the child squirm within the constraints of the seat belt.

“Let’s go,” Taehyung said, slinging an arm over Jungkook’s shoulder and leading him forward. Looking back, Jungkook stared at the growing blurriness of the vehicle and ducked out of Taehyung’s grasp. The boy turned around in confusion when he realized Jungkook had walked backwards. Before he could stop him, Jungkook had opened the car door and lodged a bullet into the boy’s skull.

Jungkook returned back to his side but remained quiet as he reloaded his gun. Taehyung let out a small sigh and figured he was doing the boy a favour by putting him out of his misery.

“These are common sights. Don’t get so sullen over it,” Jimin reminded as he turned his head around to look at Jungkook.

“I just can’t fathom the amount of pain and suffering these people had to go through during all of this. Are we not blessed to be born after all this had ended?” Jungkook asked.

Jimin shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it a blessing but yes, it is better than being stuck up here.”

“Anywhere is better than the Surface,” Taehyung added in quietly, looking around the empty highway.

"I think it's been too long since we've taken our Bliss, that's why these things are affecting us. We shouldn't let the Forerunner hear these thoughts, understand?" Namjoon ordered from the front.
 

“This is Namjoon, team leader of BTS. The seven of us have returned from the Surface. Please open the vault door.” He dropped his wrist after relaying the message through his device.

The steel door rumbled to life and they could hear the alarms from within signaling the opening of it. The seven of them lined up as the door opened from the slab of cement in the middle of a forest. One by one, they made their way down the ladder.
 

Namjoon led the way through the underground labyrinth designed to keep away any intruders from finding the real entrance. He turned another narrow corner where at the end of the corridor was another gate door.

Namjoon took out the necklace from under his shirt and inserted it into the keyhole to call up the elevator. Once it reached ground level, the seven of them filed inside.

The elevator slowly descended and it jolted once it came to a stop at the bottom. The gate to the elevators pulled open and they stepped out.

“Welcome back, BTS. The Forerunner has requested for your presence after you have washed up,” greeted one of the guards watching the door. Namjoon nodded in acknowledgement and they made their way through the Innermost and towards their sleeping chambers.

The six of them came together in their common area after tending to their own needs and walked in synchronization towards the office of the Forerunner. Hoseok was still resting within his own sleeping chamber. The two guards standing parallel to each other by the doors dipped their head in acknowledgement before pushing open the door for them.

Filing in, the seven of them stood in line formation and faced the Forerunner, who got up from his seat to greet them. His eyes scanned over the faces and he raised an eyebrow in question.

“Where is your last team member?”

Namjoon stepped forward to speak, “He sustained an injury during the mission and is recuperating for the time being.” Soohyuk glanced over the six of them before turning around and returned to his seat behind his desk.

“Mission report,” he stated, holding out his hand. Yoongi walked up towards the desk and handed him a thin folder before returning to his place beside Jin. They waited as Soohyuk skimmed through the information.

“The weather patterns changed that rapidly?” Soohyuk asked. Yoongi nodded. “Both a sandstorm and a rainstorm within 24 hours of each other.”

He closed the folder and placed it onto an empty corner of his desk and looked up at them. “Any other findings?”

“We observed a few Erratics that had died of both starvation and dehydration after the sandstorm. Two were adult females, four adult males, and two children were found. Along with that, our communication signals were affected during the sandstorm and we were out of contact with one another until the skies cleared up,” Jin responded.

Soohyuk flipped through a few more pages before calling for the two guards standing by the door.

“I will allow a two day break before your next mission. I expect full restoration of your health and that the seven of you will be in perfect condition to operate. Drop your communication devices off at the tech repair shop for the specialists to take a look.”

The six of them nodded in unison.

“Dismissed,” he waved his hand towards the exit and the six of them followed the two guards out of the office.
 

a u t h o r ' s     n o t e

  Thanks for reading this far! :) Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter and if you have any questions, feel free to comment below! I'll do my best to reply to them as soon as possible. Other than that, see you in the next!

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